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War with the Newts

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 · rating details · 2,027 ratings · 160 reviews

War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek's darkly humorous allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade and use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures and their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploit...more

Paperback, Modern Classics, 348 pages

Published 2010 by Penguin (first published 1936)

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Nov 06, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: satire, post-apocalyptic-dystopia, european-lit, favorites, military-war

A Dutch captain discovers giant talking newts on a remote island and teaches them to use tools, fight off predators, and collect pearls for him. They are eventually exploited by international corporations and the newts challenge man's place at the top of the animal kingdom.

Capek covers a multitude of issues and subjects in this wonderful satire -- capitalism, militarism, racism, and even Hollywood. A great read!

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Sep 03, 2012 Pavel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: easy-reading-on-a-lonely-rainy-even, is-that-future

One of the most enjoyable books I ever read, and definitely only one distopia I really ever liked.

Main concept of this book was repeated many many times after, for example in Starship Troopers. Goverment finds a public enemy, moves it ahead, unleashes society and mass-media on it, eventually organizes a war against it...Heroes, tragedies, war crimes.. for what? Newts!
(well we could find examples of this not only in literature, won't we).

BUT, as oppossed to We or 1984 this book is INCREDIBLY fun...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Joerg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eine bisher unentdeckte Molchart, die von den Menschen im Tausch von Perlen gegen Waffen zum Selbstschutz gegen Haie ausgerüstet wird, schwingt sich durch hohe Fertilität zur neuen dominierenden Gattung auf, die Menschen verstehen es nicht und lassen sich die Welt von den Molchen abkaufen, indem sie anfangs Küstenstriche, später ganze Kontinentalteile von den Molchen abgraben und ins Meer versinken lassen.
Für mich ein Gleichnis auf die Globalisierung - wir, der Westen lagern kleinweise alles, ab...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Lorenzo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: czech, aaa-my-library, 2011-readings

VÁLKA S MLOKY: A RECIPE

It may not be a conventional Czech or Slovakian speciality, but a válka s mloky is an excellent and tasty alternative to the unbearable lightness of being when a metamorphosis into an engineer of the human souls is too loud a solitude.

Preparation time: 1936-1937
Cooking time: approximately 3 days

You will need:
- An aquarium
- An atlas reporting the pre World War II borders
- Around 100 newts of both genders
- Sea salt
- Lemon
- Mayonnaise
- Biscuits in crumbs
- Granny Smith apples...more

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Apr 24, 2008 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A brilliant book. This book is one of the high peaks between Swift and Twain and later broad scale social critics in fiction such as Kurt Vonnegut. Published in 1936 it takes it chops up a broad sample of contemporary politics, culture and values. Most of what it has to say about mankind and its collective arrogance holds up today with astounding clarity. This book has not dated at all in any significant way.

The book is about the discovery of an intelligent species of water dwelling beings appa...more A brilliant book. This book is one of the high peaks between Swift and Twain and later broad scale social critics in fiction such as Kurt Vonnegut. Published in 1936 it takes it chops up a broad sample of contemporary politics, culture and values. Most of what it has to say about mankind and its collective arrogance holds up today with astounding clarity. This book has not dated at all in any significant way.

The book is about the discovery of an intelligent species of water dwelling beings apparently descended from salamanders (they can regenerate almost any part of their bodies), the human assisted propagation of their kind to the world's sea coasts, and an eventual war between mankind and the Newts (guess who doesn't win). The book is divided into three sub-books. The first concerns how the Newts were discovered by a adventurous sea captain on his relentless search for pearls, how he spread their settlements across the Pacific and Indian oceans, and involved a leading industrialist in the project. The second concerns events after the captain's passing when, having so successfully harvested pearls that the market bottoms out, the industrialist launches a program to globally exploit the Newts on a wide variety of programs mainly aimed at creating new land along the coasts. This part describes the ruthless means of exploitation employed by business, callous and cruel research performed by scientists, the antro-centric moralizing of religionists, the complicity of governments, and the use of Newts as weapons of war by those governments. The third recounts the war that begins when the Newts, now well educated by their human oppressors and well armed with the weapons and other technology supplied by governments and industrial explosives used in their undersea construction work, organize, resist and start to pursue projects to benefit their kind and its now burgeoning population. Mankind for its part fails to understand the real stakes in time, and gladly assists in bringing about its own doom since there has grown up a huge economy of trade in food, technology and explosives with the Newts that no government or corporation wishes to disrupt lest there be poor financial results or unemployment.

One can find a clear image of almost any current day political, religious, economic or ecological issue here. But mainly one gets a a true image of the real enemy, the persistent antrocentrism of humanity and its view of nature and the cosmos reflected in our cultures, religions, economics and way of life, a trait so ingrained that it is hardly noticed but rather taken for granted and imbued in most quarters with virtue and a cherished inevitability.
(less)

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Apr 09, 2007 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all

Shelves: done-reading

Synopsis: Kapek wrote in the post-WW1 era. In the book, a sea captain finds a bay that harbors giant newts, about the size of a ten year old human, complete with digits and all. The newts are intelligent, and he trains them to capture pearls for him. Eventually, a company forms that sends the Newts to all parts of the world for slave labor. Because of their intelligence (about equal to humans) and the training and supplies given them by man, the Newts spread all over the world (they get up to 70...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Gijs rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, novels, science-fiction, favorites, 20th-century, czech, humor, eastern-europe, 20th-century-1930s

(view spoiler)

Met zakelijke en scherpe pen geschreven roman in quasi-geschiedkundige stijl, voorzien van afbeeldingen, artikelen, lezingen en pamfletten, waarin ca. de hele mensheid de revue passeert en er van langskrijgt: wetenschappers (Capek heeft biologie gestudeerd, en dat is pre...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Todd rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Translated by M. & R. Weatherall.

This book took me way too long to get through, mostly, I think, because the translation is so dated. Otherwise, it's a great satire of capitalism, western civilization, the early 20th century, communism, yeah all of it. It stands the test of time, too. If the translation was better, I would give it four or maybe five stars.

Spoilers, in the form of quotations, below.

"It suddenly struck me that every move in chess was old and had already been played by someon...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Jonathan Cook rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

Pretty fantastic, under-hyped early science fiction. It tells the story of the discovery of a small population of intelligent newts, and how the introduction of human influence first affects the newts, in ways both good and bad, and then how the newts affect human society, again for good and ill.

The structure is alternately engaging and off-putting, but in the classical sense of speculative fiction, where the author is introducing a (usually technological) change in society and extrapolating the...more Pretty fantastic, under-hyped early science fiction. It tells the story of the discovery of a small population of intelligent newts, and how the introduction of human influence first affects the newts, in ways both good and bad, and then how the newts affect human society, again for good and ill.

The structure is alternately engaging and off-putting, but in the classical sense of speculative fiction, where the author is introducing a (usually technological) change in society and extrapolating the effects of it, this is kind of the ideal. It also reaches back to an earlier, Swiftian model of science fiction, which uses the fantastic to satirize aspects of contemporary society; this book has vicious take-downs of colonialism, racism, and the rise of fascism in Germany (a social phenomenon that would eventually threaten the author's life and lead directly to his brother's death).

It takes the form of little vignettes that provide a glimpse into the interactions between people and newts, moving over a long period of time and many characters to tell the story of a changing world. The best vignettes are in the early going, with funny, interesting characters that tell self-contained stories (Captain van Toch, in particular, is a vivid and hilarious creation). The middle section is given over to newspaper clippings and technical reports and so on which allow the story to move quickly through time, but can be kind of a slog to get through.

The third and final section tries to go back to the vignettes, but is mostly the author telling us in broad strokes and narration what happens, until the final vignette where (view spoiler)

The only character who makes it through most of the book is Mr. Povondra, a bit player in the story of the newts who plays a minor but crucial role, (view spoiler) He's an amusing figure, but not a particularly deep one, and the lack of characters that we really care about is somewhat to the book's detriment.

I also wish we got a better sense of Newt culture, as many of their behaviors and decisions seem incomprehensible, but that is clearly intentional on Capek's part, as he is creating a creature that is both genuinely intelligent and frustratingly alien. Since the story is told from many perspectives, we often get contradictory information about the newts, which we are meant to chalk up to various observers seeing mostly what they want to see.

Ultimately, this is a pretty fantastic and quick read; a fascinating literary oddity. Recommended.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Nils rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Ein intensives Buch, das seiner Zeit (1936) weit voraus war: Galt es damals in erster Linie als Kritik am und Warnung vor dem Vormarsch der Nazis, kann man es heute aus unendlich vielen Perspektiven lesen.

Aber erst ein paar Worte zur Handlung: Irgendwann in den 1920er Jahren entdeckt der niederländische Kapitän van Toch eine Bucht in Südostasien, die von überraschend intelligenten, etwa menschengroßen Molchen besiedelt wird. Er findet heraus, dass sie von Haien bedroht werden, und beliefert sie...more Ein intensives Buch, das seiner Zeit (1936) weit voraus war: Galt es damals in erster Linie als Kritik am und Warnung vor dem Vormarsch der Nazis, kann man es heute aus unendlich vielen Perspektiven lesen.

Aber erst ein paar Worte zur Handlung: Irgendwann in den 1920er Jahren entdeckt der niederländische Kapitän van Toch eine Bucht in Südostasien, die von überraschend intelligenten, etwa menschengroßen Molchen besiedelt wird. Er findet heraus, dass sie von Haien bedroht werden, und beliefert sie mit Waffen, die sie wiederum mit Perlen bezahlen. Mit der Hilfe des Industriemagnaten Bondy beginnt er, die Molche, die sich sehr schnell vermehren, in anderen Buchten anzusiedeln, wo er gegen einfache Messer und Harpunen Perlen erhält. Nachdem das Geschäft mit den Perlen im Laufe der Zeit immer weniger rentabel wird und die Molche sich immer noch über alle Maßen vermehren, beschließen Bondy und seine Firma, die Molche als fleißige Unterwasserarbeiter zu vermieten. Sie errichten jedoch nicht nur Hafenanlagen, sondern schütten auch neues Festland auf und erweitern Küstenlinien. Im Laufe der Zeit werden sie von den Menschen immer weniger als Tiere gesehen, sondern als intelligente Wesen, denen grundlegende Rechte wie Arbeitszeiten oder Schulbildung zustehen. Schließlich werden die Molche sogar als Soldaten eingesetzt. Mit der Zeit vermehren sie sich jedoch so stark, dass ihnen die zugewiesenen Küsten irgendwann nicht mehr ausreichen...

Capeks Erzählweise ist dabei sehr eigen, erzeugt aber nach dem etwas zähen Einstieg im Stil klassischer Abenteuerromane einen unglaublichen Sog: Nur selten erzählt er in klassischer Form einen Roman. Vielmehr vermischt er unterschiedliche Textsorten wie Reportagen, populärwissenschaftliche Texte, historische Quellensammlungen oder politische Manifeste, um die Geschichte der Menschen und der Molche zu erzählen. Auf diese Weise blickt er aus einer Makro-Perspektive auf die Welt, ohne erklären zu müssen, warum eine Romanfigur alle diese Entwicklungen beobachten kann. Dieser Teil bleibt daher notwendigerweise eher abstrakt, ist aber nichtsdestotrotz extrem spannend zu lesen. Capek bindet diese Entwicklungen auf der großen Bühne jedoch immer wieder an das Leben einer Person: den Portier des Industriellen Bondy, Povondra: Dieser sieht sich verantwortlich für den Aufstieg der Molche, da er van Toch damals zu seinem Chef vorgelassen hat und die beiden ihren Perlenhandel aufziehen konnten. Gleichzeitig erlebt der den Aufstieg der Molche aus der Distanz, da er sich an den Meeresküsten abspielt, von denen Tschechien fast 1000 Kilometer entfernt liegt.

Wie zu Beginn angedeutet, lässt sich "Der Krieg mit den Molchen" auf unglaublich vielen Ebenen lesen: als Parabel auf den Aufstieg der Nazis, als Illustration des Nationalismus' und des Rassismus', als Anklage des Sklavenhandels, als Darstellung der Industrialisierung und der Arbeiterbewegung, als Verurteilung des menschlichen Strebens nach Macht und Geld, als Kapitalismuskritik und nicht zuletzt auch als Warnung, sparsam mit den Ressourcen unseres Planeten umzugehen. Das Hauptwerk Capeks wird damit zu einer universellen Parabel über die dunklen Seiten des Menschen.(less)

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Jan 10, 2010 Tyler Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-changed-my-life

1985 was the worst year of my life. The previous summer our family had moved from Calgary to Saskatoon and I had left behind a group of very close friends. I had just graduated high school and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I did know that I would rather go to school than get a job, so for perhaps the first time in my life I really applied myself academically in a last ditch effort to get accepted into University. I pulled off a 99% in a summer school Chemistry class, which must...more 1985 was the worst year of my life. The previous summer our family had moved from Calgary to Saskatoon and I had left behind a group of very close friends. I had just graduated high school and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I did know that I would rather go to school than get a job, so for perhaps the first time in my life I really applied myself academically in a last ditch effort to get accepted into University. I pulled off a 99% in a summer school Chemistry class, which must have impressed somebody because that September I found myself a chemistry major in the University of Saskatchewan. The only problem was I didn't like chemistry.

As the year progressed I did less and less work in my science classes, and found myself spending more and more time in the library reading fiction. I couldn't find the science fiction I favoured among the more literary selections at the University, so I was forced to expand my horizons. One day while browsing the stacks I came across this book by Karel Capek. Capek was a name I was familiar with as Asimov frequently mentioned him in his essays as the man who devised the word "robot". Picking up the book, I was surprised to see a blurb from my favourite author, Kurt Vonnegut, on the back. Of course I had to read it.

It was a revelation. Capek had, if possible, an even more jaded view of human nature than I did, but his cutting sense of humour transcended the hopelessness. The message I took away from the book is that Man is a greedy and vain creature who will destroy the world in pursuit of small comforts. With a message such as this, why did I find War With the Newts so uplifting? Perhaps because it awoke the slumbering optimist in me to recognize a second message; the best weapon against the vanity and greed of Man is humour. Religion, capitalism, fascism, celebrity, and even social reform each take their turn in Capek's dunk tank. A brilliant social satire.

Why this book is not more widely recognized as one of the great novels of the Twentieth Century has always been a mystery to me.(less)

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Jul 28, 2012 Gordon Houghton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sometimes a book comes out of the blue and whacks you over the head with its brilliance. All I knew about Capek before I read this was that he wrote a play about mechanization and introduced the word 'robot' to the English language. So I was expecting something a little serious, and maybe even worthy, from War With The Newts. Instead, it's a bitingly satirical novel of international politics and human greed which maintains a dry wit and occasionally flippant tone without ever sinking into bitter...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Carien rated it 4 of 5 stars

While in Prague I decided I should try a book by a Czech author. I picked up War with the Newts as the concept of intelligent newts sounded intriguing.

It was a very interesting and at times funny read.
It's build up in three parts and of these part one is the most funny and the most like an actual story. Part two is rather dry and written like a collections of articles, although there's lots of humor in this part as well. Part three is the most grim and written like the recounting of historical...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Sokolik rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Svět po první světové válce propadl iluzi, že udělal vše pro to, aby se už podobné hrůzy neopakovaly. Avšak ve třicátých letech se stále více ukazovalo, jak byly tyto představy naivní. Svět naplno prožívá hospodářskou krizi, a mnoho lidí hledá podporu v extremistickych hnutích, jak by se daly nazvat všechny ty ...ismy na vzestupu. A právě takové společnosti nastavuje ve svém románu Válka s mloky Karel Čapek zrcadlo. Nabízí světu nový způsob, jak se vymanit z krize, zlepšit blahobyt všech. Avšak...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Fred R rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A funny little story about newts. The opening was the best, the odd spectacle (and economic possibilities) of intelligent newts making for some good scenes. The humor is sometimes too broad or obvious, but often hits home, and Capek is an equal opportunity offender, with no axe to grind. The war itself, although it had a certain awful logic (reminiscent of our conquest of America), was not as well done. Opportunities for genuine horror were avoided in preference to a comic summary of the action....more

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Apr 29, 2010 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, speculative-fiction, science-fiction

The book begins with the discovery of an isolated population of salamanders the size of 10-year-old boys and with the intelligence of perhaps stone age humans. From there, short-sighted humans make decisions to use the salamanders for short-term benefits. Generally, the people aren't mean-hearted, just oblivious to later consequences or having biased perspectives. Over time, various people using various means to use the salamanders for gain move ahead a process creating a growing problem. Too ma...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Franziska rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: utopia, animals, society, newt

Kapitän van Toch befindet sich auf einer seiner unzähligen (See)Reisen, als er auf einer entlegenen Insel eine neue Molchart entdeckt, die man sehr leicht dazu abrichten kann Perlen zu suchen und diese dem Menschen zu übergeben. Van Toch ist natürlich begeistert und mit der Unterstützung eines reichen Landsmannes verbreitet er die Molchart weiter, um auch auf anderen Inseln Perlen suchen lassen zu können.
Einige Jahre später, kurz nach van Tochs Tod, wird schließlich das Molchsyndikat gegründet,...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A strange mixture of satire, science fiction and cautionary tale -- an obvious statement about the rise of Nazi Germany, but aside from some old-fashioned language, there were many similarities to today's world. The chapter entitled "Earthquake in Louisiana" was particularly eerie, in light of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The book was slow-going in places but I would recommend it.

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Apr 18, 2013 Jeff Rowe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The 4th in my dystopian series. Never has a book sounded so dumb to me, yet turned out so good. I don't always read satire, but when I do, I prefer it to be dripping with caustic acidic humor. This book has that in spades. It veered wildly from section to section, each with very different styles: a tale of adventure, a Hollywood short, scientific treatise, corporate board proceedings, news magazine documentary, etc. But each was oddly appropriate for the stage of newt development (as crazy as th...more

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Jan 03, 2011 pinknantucket rated it 3 of 5 stars

"War with the Newts" featured rather a lot less war than I expected, being more an account of the events leading up to the said war than a detailed account of the war itself. I enjoyed it a great deal, though my enthusiasm waned during a long chapter "Along the steps of civilisation" which featured lots of footnotes referencing (fictional) news items. I'm not good at footnotes, especially when they span multiple pages; I find it hard to concentrate on the narrative. (Even though all the footnote...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Lily Bart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This ain't 1984, Winston! It's not your father's dystopia!

All the blurbs say this is "in the tradition" of books like BRAVE NEW WORLD and 1984, but it's really not. It reads more like a goofy series of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketches. Newts at the zoo, Newts in Hollywood, Newts being bought and sold on the commodities market. It's only at the very end that things get dark, really dark, and you finally see how much terror and madness must have been driving the author when he wrote this. (Capek died...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, sci-fi, read-but-unowned

I debated between three and four stars and finally settled for four. A newer translation would probably make my rating a bit more solid. Though the 1937 translation was kind of fun.

The story itself is pretty simple. Humans discover a species of giant newts that turns out to be highly intelligent. And of course being human, humanity decides to enslave this new found race and use them as cheap manual labor. So humans start breeding the newts and spreading them everywhere. And given the title of th...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Annika rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

If you ever want to learn something about how the human mind/society works - read this book.
This book left a deep impression on me - on the one hand because of Mr. Capeks visionary sight (mind the date when he wrote the book when you might read it) and on the other hand by his very profound (and unfoturnately true) charaterization of "civilazition".
There are very detailed reviews on Amazon so I won't repeat what lots of people have written already once. Like Francis Bacon said: "Some books are...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Ineke rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dit boek bevat zo veel stof om over te praten, dat we niet genoeg tijd hadden in de bibliotheek: twee en een half uur was niet genoeg om alle thema's van dit boek te bespreken. Democratie of totalitarisme; slaven; oorlog of vrede; kapitalisme; wetenschap en nog veel meer. En dat alleen met een verhaal over salamanders. Het werd ook een caleidoscopische roman genoemd. Dit boek kun je vele malen lezen en telkens weer uit een ander gezichtspunt bekijken. Zeer humoristisch en alles wordt door deze h...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Siiri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Karel Čapek rakentaa salmiakkihuumorilla kuvan maailmasta, jossa elämme. Hänen taitavan satiirinsa alle joutuvat niin talous, politiikka kuin muukin maailmanmeno. Erityisen mielenkiintoista teosta on tarkastella kirjoitusajankohtansa valossa; se kun on julkaistu toisen maailmansodan kynnyksellä, ja toimii näin myös jonkinlaisena profeettamaisena kirjana. Pelottavaakin, miten osuvasti fasismi ja Saksan toiminta löytyvät kirjan sivuilta.

Hyvin Čapekmaisesti kirjoitettu teos on tekstilajien taitava...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Velma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi, 2010-reads, boxall-1001-books

Satire, dark humor, a race of quasi-intelligent super-amphibians that take over the world: a recipe for a happy Velma, indeed. If you want an antidote to today's pessimistic, over-the-top political climate and end-times culture wars: avoid this book like the plague. If, instead, you want a neo-Swiftian dystopian romp of an all-that-is-old-is-new-again, hey-didn't-we-DO-colonialism-slash-fascism-slash-arms-racing-Armageddon-already, we-haven't-come-a-long-way-baby sweet read, then crack the spine...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although in 1936 it clearly wasn't written as such, 'War with the Newts' is a fantastic allegory for climate change. This struck me especially when I read this, near the end of the book:

'The earth will probably sink and drown; but at least it will be the result of generally acknowledged political and economic ideas, but at least it will be accomplished with the help of the science, industry, & public opinion, with the application of all human ingenuity! No cosmic catastrophe, nothing but st...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Fruchtfleisch rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Im Jahre 1939 vom Tschecken Karel Capek geschrieben, eine Utopie, der der Mensch nur allzu gerecht wird:

Ein Kapitän stößt bei der Perlensuche auf eine gar sonderbare Molchart, die sich für seine Suche einsetzen lässt. Die Existenz der Salamander bleibt nicht lange geheim, die Menschheit ist zunächst ob ihrer Hässlichkeit entsetzt, beginnt jedoch rasch, sie für ihre Zwecke zu nutzen und zu knechten. Die Molche, friedfertig und behäbig ... oder doch nicht? Wie ich finde ein ganz wunderbares Stückl...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Michaela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Biting satire. I have some discomfort with the author's seemingly cavalier treatment of some Jewish characters but it is impossible for me to know if this was meant to be part of the satire or is part of the author's own prejudices. Still the writing is brilliant and prescient (written in 1936.) A quote from one of the journalist characters, "I lost that game. It suddenly struck me that every move in chess was old and had already been played by someone. Perhaps our history has already been playe...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wry satire on humanity's drive to exploit everything until there is, in the end, literally nowhere left to live.

"The flesh of the Newts has also been taken to be unfit for human consumption and even poisonous; if eaten raw, it causes acute pains, vomiting, and mental hallucinations. Dr. Pinkel ascertained after many experiments performed on himself that these harmful effects disapper if the chopped meat is scalded with hot water (as with some toadstools), and after washing thoroughly it is pickl...more

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About Karel Čapek

Karel Čapek is one of the the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century. He wrote with intelligence and humour on a wide variety of subjects. His works are known for their interesting and precise descriptions of reality, and Čapek is renowned for his excellent work with the Czech language. His play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) first popularized the word "robot".

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Quotes from War With the Newts

“It suddenly occurred to me that every move on the chessboard is old and has been played by somebody at some time. Maybe our own history has been played out by somebody at some time, and we just move our pieces about in the same moves to strike in the same way as people have always done.” — 3 people liked it

“It is a well–known fact that the greater a man is the less he has on his door–plate.” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7575624-war-with-the-newts?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328678482l/7575624.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7575624-war-with-the-newts?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]War with the Newts by Karel Čapek[/url]

War with the Newts

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